Topic: Warbirds of WWII Part Nine: SBD Dauntless

[Chris SI]

Tough US Navy dive-bomber

It seems that obsolescence made little difference to the performance of certain aircraft of the Second World War and among this elite, the sturdy Douglas 'Dauntless' dive-bomber ranked high. First ordered in April 1939, when it was considered the world's best all round dive-bomber, it went into service in November 1940 but was considered to have had its day as early as 1941. Even so, the Dauntless was still a doughty contender, able to survive much heavy punishment and in fact, no American carrier aircraft suffered fewer casualties. In improved versions during 1943, it was even able to outclass and outdive its ostensibly more powerful and more modern successor, the Grummann SB2C Helldiver.

Classed as a carrier-borne scout and dive bomber, the Dauntless was used in its later career as an anti-submarine or close support aircraft. A neat and compact 33ft long and 13ft 7 ins high, it had a wingspan of 41 ft 6 ins and a wing area of 325 sq ft . It was powered by one l,200hp Wright R-l 820-60 Cyclone radial engine. Maximum speed at 15,800ft was 245 mph and 252 mph at 13,800ft. Cruising speed was 139 mph and service ceiling 24,300 ft .

Armament consisted of two fixed forward-firing .5 in machine guns, in front of the fuselage, two flexible .3 in rear cockpit machine guns and a maximum bomb load of l,6001bs under the fuselage with an additional underwing bomb load of 200 lbs, or 250lbs of depth charges. The range of a Dauntless carrying a l,OOOlb bomb was 1,115 miles and there was a two-man crew.

In December 1941, Dauntlesses of the USN and USMC suffered heavily during the treacherous Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. However, the aircraft brought a considerable revenge upon the Japanese in the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway in 1942. The 'obsolete' Dauntless was still in front line service in June 1944, when it took part in the battle of the Philippine Sea. More remarkably it was in French Navy service for many years after 1945.

So versatile was this type it was even used as in interceptor during the early Pacific battles, and shot down a number of Japanese aircraft.

[kmelew]

I like that painting of the SBD's over Akagi!

[Clark Kent]

I like this guy.  I saw one at a state fair a few years ago they had fished out of lake michigan.  It had been lost in WWII when the pilot in triaining missed the carrier deck and ditched it.  They hauled it out a fewyears ago, completely covered in zebra muscles and the plan was to completely refurbish it and bring it back to mint condition.
The engine was the real trip to see- it hardly looked like and engine with all the zebra muscles caked on it.  I have no doubt that plane is well on it's way to being flightworthy again, despite the years resting at the bottom of lake michigan.

[Father Ted]

It could be argued that the Dauntless won the war in the Pacific when squadrons from the Yorktown and Enterprise found Nagumo's carriers and singlehandedly turned the tide at Midway.

[Chris SI]

Slow But Deadly, the navy called her, Ted.

Clark, I remember that story, the missing plane was from one of the Navy's paddle wheel carriers, used for training on the great lakes.

[Clark Kent]

Midway was a lucky, one two punch.  The SBDs were successful because all of the attention had been spent on the lower flying torpedoe bombers.  If the torpedoe bombers hadn't been there, and the SBDs hadn't arrived when they did, Midway could have been a much different battle.
Yep, chris, pretty sure that it was trying to land on a paddlewheel CV.
Cool plane, very cool.

[Chris SI]

Its been a favorite of mine since the late 1960s, I had a model of it, from Monogram, that had opening dive flaps and a dropable bomb!

Ah, memories.

[kmelew]

[J. Carney]

Slow But Deadly, the navy called her, Ted.

Clark, I remember that story, the missing plane was from one of the Navy's paddle wheel carriers, used for training on the great lakes.

Slow but deadly, indeed.

Far more flattering than the nickname for the SB2C Helldiver...

"Son of a Bitch, 2nd Class"

The name refered to the plane's shortcomings in relations to the Duantless's pilot-friendly reputation.

And paddle-wheel carriers on the Graet Lakes? Con you give me the names andhull numbers ofthose, Chris- that would be something supremely interesting to read.

[kmelew]

And paddle-wheel carriers on the Graet Lakes? Con you give me the names andhull numbers ofthose, Chris- that would be something supremely interesting to read.

There were two of them...one was the USS Wolverine (IX-64) and the other was USS Sable (IX-81)

[Chris SI]

The Navy used them on the lakes, as pilots and sailors could practice carrir operations without fear of submarine attack.

They looked like small fleet carries, but had a giant paddlewheel amidships, that could not be seen.

USS Wolverine:

[J. Carney]

The Navy used them on the lakes, as pilots and sailors could practice carrir operations without fear of submarine attack.

They looked like small fleet carries, but had a giant paddlewheel amidships, that could not be seen.

Just put up a little post on the Wolverine for those interested. Thanks, Chris.